Dear Friend and Reader
Here is the Mercury retrograde in Gemini rundown. As you may have read here or elsewhere, the process began Sunday. Mercury has an approximately 88 day orbit, so it goes past the Earth three times a year. Each of these is called Mercury retrograde, because it appears to pass by the Earth and thus moves in apparent reverse motion. This is not an illusion, as some astrologers say. It is actual relative motion, which is why the experience has real effects.
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We all know how weird this can be. On a technical level, it’s sometimes simpler than the psychological level; i.e., back up your disk drives early and often; avoid doing anything of the kind during the days close to the station. All of this becomes common sense after a while. What makes each Mercury retrograde interesting is the psychological and emotional material around the process, which many have noticed can be quite creatively potent.
We will be looking at this in detail, using the minor planets in Friday’s subscriber edition of Planet Waves Astrology News. (Subscription info is always on the main cover of Planet Waves.) All UT calculations by Serennu. All EDT calculations by me.
11 May – 20:42:08 UT – Mercury echo (also called shadow) begins (12 Gemini 58′). This is when Mercury enters the degrees where it will later be retrograde. Mercury is always direct during the echo phases.
23 May – Mercury slows toward station, shifting mental and perceptual perspectives, making your hair dryer act weird and deleting the occasional mainframe system. This is sometimes called the Mercury storm.
26 May – 15:47:34 UT – Mercury stations retrograde (21 Gemini 32′). It is closely trine Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius at the time. Neptune also stations retrograde the same day. Mercury covers about 11 degrees of Gemini (most of the second decanate or “face,” which is ruled in old timey traditional astrology by Mars. So on one level we have what may feel like a long Mercury-Mars conjunction.
03 June – 3:22 pm EDT – Gemini New Moon, with the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Ceres in Gemini. Ceres is opposite the Galactic Core.
7 June – 11:27 am EDT – Mercury makes its interior conjunction to the Sun, marking the midpoint of the retrograde phase. Notably, Venus is also making an exterior conjunction to the Sun the same day, which is close to the midpoint between the 2004 and 2012 Venus transits of the Sun. An “interior conjunction” is when Mercury or Venus is retrograde and conjunct the Sun. An “exterior conjunction” is when they are direct and conjunct the Sun. Remember that, you will need it another time.
19 June – 14:31:07 UT – Mercury stations direct (12 Gemini 58). Mercury now moves through the same degrees where it was retrograde for the third time, again direct.
02 July – Cancer New Moon.
04 July – 12:32:44 UT – Mercury echo or shadow ends (21 Gemini 32′).
Tune back in on Friday. And watch Planet Waves later this week for ongoing coverage of the United Astrology Conference in Denver.
Monday 12th May 2008
Venus (14+ Taurus) quincunx Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Venus (14+ Taurus) quincunx Atlantis (14+ Libra Rx)
Pallas (26+ Aries) quintile Nessus (14+ Aquarius)
Orcus (27+ Leo) trine Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius) – Near Miss Only
Sun (21+ Taurus) sextile Uranus (21+ Pisces)
Venus (14+ Taurus) quintile Apollo (26+ Cancer)
Venus (14+ Taurus) sesquiquadrate Arachne (29+ Virgo Rx)
Venus (14+ Taurus) square Nessus (14+ Aquarius)
Venus (14+ Taurus) opposite Pandora (14+ Scorpio Rx)
Amor (5+ Taurus) quintile Varuna (17+ Cancer)
Sun (22+ Taurus) trine Jupiter (22+ Capricorn Rx)
Venus (15 Taurus) semisquare Aries Point (0 Aries)
Vesta (10+ Aries) quincunx Hidalgo (10+ Scorpio Rx)
Pandora (14+ Scorpio Rx) square Nessus (14+ Aquarius)
Mercury (14+ Gemini) opposite Ixion (14+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sisyphus (10+ Libra Rx) opposite Vesta (10+ Aries)
Mercury (14+ Gemini) opposite Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Mercury (14+ Gemini) trine Atlantis (14+ Libra Rx)
Eros (3+ Gemini) quintile Uranus (21+ Pisces)
Arachne (29+ Virgo Rx) semisquare Pandora (14+ Scorpio Rx)